30 September 2009
In the coming months, hundreds of Rotary club members from the United States, the United Kingdom, Norway, Denmark and Korea will join thousands of their fellow Rotary members and millions of other volunteers and health workers to immunize children against polio in India, as well as Nigeria and several other African nations.
Through Rotary International, the fight against this crippling disease has been largely volunteer-driven. Never before has the influence of the private sector played such a critical role in a global public health effort.
“When Rotary International launched PolioPlus in 1985, more than 125 countries were still polio endemic, and at least a thousand children were paralyzed every day,” said United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon at Rotary’s 2009 Convention.
“Since then, [Rotary has] led the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, side by side with the World Health Organization, UNICEF and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. More than two billion children have been immunized. More than five million children who otherwise would have been paralyzed are walking. There are now only four countries that are still polio endemic. Rotary's vision of a polio-free world is in sharp focus.”
End Polio Now
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